


might as well be living out beyond the milky way

by astrodomine



Category: The Iliad - Homer, The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Academia, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:22:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrodomine/pseuds/astrodomine
Summary: In which two roommates write an essay, sneak out, eat Chinese food, and poorly cope with the rising tension between them.
Relationships: Achilles/Patroclus (Song of Achilles), Achilles/Patroclus of Opus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Kudos: 26





	might as well be living out beyond the milky way

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [more naked than flesh](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14709089) by [Notfye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notfye/pseuds/Notfye). 



> Hello all! 1) this is the first fic I've written in FOREVER so be extra ruthless w/ crit and more importantly 2) this is based on Notfye's AMAZING fic "more naked than flesh" so this fic won't make a lot of sense if you don't read that first (shout out to Notfye for being an awesome beta and writer)!
> 
> Anyways, enjoy and stay healthy!! :))

Patroclus had once again put off doing yet another book report; this one being worth at least 100 points. It wasn’t that she was dumb or lacked a work ethic. It was just whenever she looked over at her teacher-issued copy of Hamlet sitting on her dorm’s desk she felt that foreboding sense of anxiety. She’d finished reading the play, Briseis had helped with that, but she couldn’t bring herself to even organize her ideas. She had 3 days.

Looking for an excuse to think of literally anything else Patroclus thought of her roommate. Achilles and she had grown much closer since the bonfire, since she had woken up to a stale cupcake next to her head. It had been absolutely disgusting but the sentiment wouldn’t leave her head.

That had been a few weeks ago and the crunch of newly fallen October leaves had turned to the squish of damp November.

Achilles had yet to return from practice and Patroclus hadn’t seen her since catching her gaze across the dining hall at lunch a few hours ago. She found herself missing Achilles. Patroclus got up from her desk, book report abandoned and threw herself down on her bed.

After an undetermined amount of time passed Patroclus heard the telltale sound of a key opening a lock and their shared dorm door opening. She squinted open her eyes.

“Hi,” Patroclus muttered out, her voice seedy from sleep.

“Hey,” Achilles replied and looked over at the abandoned copy of Hamlet resting on Patroclus’s desk. “Ah, Shakespeare still hanging over you I see.”

All she received was a groan in response.

“You know, I already pretty much finished up my essay,” Achilles disclosed. “I’m not saying it’s amazing or anything and isn’t on Hamlet, but I’m here if you need any help.”

Patroclus sat up and exclaimed with a start, “You’d really do that?”

“Sure, why not?”

And that’s what brought the two roommates squeezed next to each other at Patroclus’s desk, trying to come up with an argument for why Ophelia never loved Hamlet. 

“Well, Ophelia repeatedly rejects Hamlet’s advances and returns most of his letters,” Achilles remarked. “Not to mention how Hamlet treats her during the nunnery scene. That’d make anyone stop loving someone if she even ever had.”

“Yeah,” Patroclus responds. “And right before he says all that stuff to her, she gives him all of his gifts to her back. She didn’t even want them in the first place.”

They continued to converse with Patroclus scribbling away on a sheet of paper every so often. By the time they were finished their shared clock read 11:46 PM and the paper had a decently long first draft written out on it. Achilles stood up and stretched.

“Woah, we worked for a long time. Looks like we missed dinner,” Achilles sighed as her back gave a satisfying crack.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to eat up all of your time. Pun unintended,” Patroclus deadpanned. Shit, I’m hungry, she thought to herself.

“No, no, you’re totally fine!” the other girl insisted. “I wanted to help, remember? Anyways you hungry? Cuz I know a pretty good place we can go to eat if we sneak out.”

“Yes please,” Patroclus responded, not knowing if she should fear or thank whatever mystical force from above gave her roommate the ability to read her mind. 

After throwing on a hoodie and changing out of her uniform into a pair of sweatpants, she was ready to run off in search of nourishment with Achilles as her guide.

“Have everything? Keys?” Achilles asked and reading her mind again added, “Don’t worry about money, I’ve got it covered. You can pay next time we go out.”

Patroclus’s mind filled with How the fuck can she just do that? mixed with her face heating up at the promise of them going out again. She pulled up her hood and crept after Achilles into the night.

Once they had escaped the campus that had held them together for so many months they began to sprint, the adrenaline of breaking the school’s code of conduct racing through both of their veins. They soon reached a run-of-the-mill looking suburban area.

“You like Chinese?” Achilles questioned her unofficially appointed partner in crime. “Or does pizza sound more enticing?”

“Chinese sounds good, I guess,” Patroclus responded quickly, adrenaline still coursing through her veins. Her stomach growled. “Chinese definitely sounds good right now.”

“Okay, Chinese it is,” Achilles replied. Her eyes crinkled with a mixture of amusement and fondness, Patroclus noticed that her heart was now racing for a different reason than sneaking out or the exciting promise of finally getting some food in her.

“I didn’t know that there were any Chinese places around here, let alone ones that stayed open this late,” Patroclus remarked, trying to make conversation.

“Neither did I until me and some of the other girls on the team snuck out and discovered it,” Achilles said. “It’s pretty damn good for super suburbia like the one surrounding us.”

As they walked and soon strolled down what seemed to be the main street of the town that they were in. Patroclus glanced over at Achilles and was suddenly taken aback by how her delicate features were displayed in the reflection of moon and streetlights. She looked like the subject of a Caravaggio painting with the dark masking half of her face in shadow. Her eyes reflected the moonlight. Patroclus again cursed the mystical forces playing with her as her heart skipped a beat.

“Hmm?” Achilles hummed knowing but not unkindly.

“I-It’s nothing!” Patroclus responded a little too loudly for the early hours of the morning in the middle of a quiet town. She quickly turned away, not knowing if the reason was to hide her quickly heating face or stop herself from getting lost in Achilles’s eyes. 

They walked for a bit longer and soon arrived at the much-hyped Chinese restaurant. 

“Here we are,” Achilles chirped as she held the door open for Patroclus and stepped in after her.

The restaurant was a small takeout place with a few chairs for customers waiting for their orders. At the counter was a tired-looking young man, who at their arrival gave a slightly groggy smile. They gazed up at the specials and quickly made their orders.

“I’ll have chicken with broccoli and wonton soup,” Achilles said and glanced back at Patroclus. “How about you?”

“Oh,” Patroclus snapped out of the trance that she had again fallen into. “Could I have tofu with vegetables and hot and sour soup?”

“Of course,” the cashier responded and repeated their orders back to them. Once they confirmed that the order was correct the cashier said, “Okay, That’ll be $22.97 including tax.”

Patroclus’s eyes widened and gave an apologetic glance to Achilles who waved her off and pulled out the money to pay. She shoved $2 dollars into the tip jar and motioned for Patroclus to sit next to her and wait for the food.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I’ll pay you back when we-”

“Hey!” Achilles whispered sternly as not to alert the young man at the counter. “I told you that it’s fine, you can pay next time!”

“Okay,” Patroclus sighed and settled down into her seat.

As they waited for their food to be finished the two talked about their days. Achilles told her about how Paris, a student at their rival school Troy, snuck onto the grounds and went to their track practice and how Menelaus chased her off the school's campus while holding a tennis racket she had grabbed. Patroclus chuckled and talked about how in French they were reading a play aloud and Briseis had skillfully read her role with the most ridiculous Jersey accent she had ever heard. Their conversion made the time pass quickly and the next thing they knew, their food was finished. 

They exited with takeout in hand, this time Patroclus holding the door as Achilles insisted to carry the bag (“It’s the gentlemanly thing to do,” she had said with humor filling her eyes). 

“So we probably shouldn’t eat this back at the dorm if we don’t wanna get caught,” Achilles said with an air of pretend contemplation. “Luckily I know the perfect place for us to go!”

This “perfect place” was an empty but nice park. They sat at a wooden table and began to dig in.

“God, I didn’t even realize that I was this fucking hungry!” Patroclus whispered gleefully. 

“Yeah, who knew that writing about how much of an asshole Hamlet is could be so much work.”

“Thanks for that by the way, I really did appreciate it,” Patroclus responded as she continued to eat her tofu and slurp at her soup.

“No problem,” Achilles said fondly as she rested her face on her hand gazing at Patroclus, her food mostly untouched.

“Hey, aren’t you hungry?” Patroclus pointed at Achilles plastic container with her spoon.

“Oh yeah,” Achilles started to shovel chicken into her mouth.

This continued on until both girls were sufficiently full and happy. Achilles glanced at Patroclus again and noticed a spot of sauce on her cheek.

“You got something there,” She pointed at her own cheek.

Patroclus attempted to wipe the sauce off her face to no avail, “Did I get it?”

“No, here let me,” Achilles said as she reached across the table and rubbed the sauce off Patroclus’s cheek. Her hand cupped Patroclus’s cheek for a few seconds, green eyes boring holes into Patroclus’s brown ones.

And for a second, just a split second, Patroclus wished that the blonde girl reaching out from across the table would kiss her.

Achilles apologized and sat back down. They picked at their food a bit longer before dumping their trash and walking back to the dorms in near silence.

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from gay icon janis ian's other side of the sun
> 
> if you wanna reach me or talk abt whatever here's my tumblr (i'm gonna start being more active on there):
> 
> https://giselleofthewell.tumblr.com/


End file.
